


Pinecones

by mooses_gabriel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Pinecones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-03-13 10:25:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3378056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mooses_gabriel/pseuds/mooses_gabriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>human and kid AU in which Sam and Gabriel are ordinary kings</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pinecones

The new neighbors had moved in when Sam was three, and though people rarely moved to Lawrence, the Winchester’s didn’t think anything of it. They seemed normal enough, though they had twice as many children than most families in the town, but they were all well behaved kids, though a bit off. Mary invited the Brennens to a house warming party, so they could meet the neighbors. If she found Egon Brennen’s drinking excessive or the children’s quiet mumbles concerning, she didn’t say so.

Later when everyone had left, one of the younger Brennens promised to see Sam tomorrow before hopping out the door, she turned to John. “Did you notice the look Mrs. Brennen gave her husband when he was drinking?”

John looked away from the television, “No. Why?”

Mary shook her head, “Nothing. I must have missed something he said just before that.”

She relaxed and went to tuck in her sons, sending a silent promise to the Brennen children that she would keep a watchful eye.

*~* ~*~ *~*

Gabriel and Sam start hanging out regularly, and Mary worries about the bruises she sees on the Brennen. With every excuse he smiles, and she pinches her lips and tells herself she’s wrong. When Gabriel’s older brother starts talking to Dean, she checks Castiel for bruises and finds them every once in a while. The Brennens confirm each other’s stories – tripped, rough-housed too much, got knocked over by a friend’s dog, didn’t see the soccer ball until too late – and Mary wrings her hands and asks John; he frowns and keeps an eye on Mr. Brennen, who is always pleasant in public, but John heard shouting when he walked past their house on more than one occasion. A year passes, bruises and limps come and go, and Mr. and Mrs. Winchester worry more. The Brennen children keep smiling.

*~* ~*~ *~*

Mary had tried keeping her children’s play-dates at home, but Sam was insisting on going to the Brennen’s this time. Apparently Gabriel had a soda cap collection that was too big to be brought here, and Sam really wanted to see it. Pretty please with a cherry on top, no less. She relented, not having a solid reason for keeping him from going into Gabriel’s home, and the two ran out the door yelling “thank you”s and laughing as they stumble to get shoes on.

Upon entering the house, Sam noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Gabriel’s dad isn’t home, Michael and Luke are at soccer, Anna is practicing piano, Castiel is in his room–reading most likely. They go upstairs, and Sam marvels at the box of soda tops. Gabriel smiles proudly and points out a small plastic bag, saying those are caps of his favorite soda and he adds one whenever he drinks a soda.

“We can get you a bag and you can collect some! And it will go right by mine, so the bags aren’t lonely.”

Sam nods, and the two get distracted by other things in the room. Gabriel grabs his Perry, a stuffed animal based on a Disney show, and the two giggle and play with the toys in Gabriel’s room. After a while they get bored, and make their way down stairs, stopping outside of Gabriel’s parents’ bedroom. Inside they heard strange noises, and when they poke their head in to see Mrs. Brennen crying.

“Mommy? What’s wrong?”

Gabriel’s mother looks startled, and furiously wipes at her eyes. “Nothin’ baby. Go play with Sam.”

The two boy exchange a look and walk over, climbing onto the bed. Sam sits silently and Gabriel plays with his mother’s hands. “Mommy why are you crying? I thought big boys and girls weren’t supposed to do that,” he says confused and upset, Sam nodding in agreement.

Mrs. Brennen smiles sadly, “I just miss your daddy that’s all.”

She starts crying again, and the boys curl up on either side of her, telling her he would be home soon and not to be sad. Eventually, Sam has to go home, and as he’s leaving a car pulls into the driveway. Mr. Brennen stumbles his way to the door, glaring at him as he passes through the doorway. Sam sees Gabriel run up to his room before the door closes and he’s left on the doorstep in the dark.

When he gets home, he mentions nothing to his parents, says instead that he’s going to start collecting soda caps. John eyes him but asks no further, and Mary wrings her hands.

*~* ~*~ *~*

Weeks pass, summer ends, and school is around the corner. It’s Sam and Gabriel’s first year, and they excitedly await kindergarten. They get the same teacher, Miss Jess, and when the first day comes Mary walks Sam to the bus stop. She admits to herself that she’s surprised to see Gabriel’s mother.

“Hello Deirdre! First days are always something, huh? This morning I could barely get Sam to do anything he was so excited,” Mary tried for conversation.

“Gabriel’s the same. How are y–”

Gabriel cuts her off, “Mommy is daddy working late today?”

Deirdre stiffens, “I don’t know honey. Sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn’t. If he’s late he’ll miss out on dinner, I’m making your favorite to celebrate your first day of school,” she smiles at Gabriel who soon forgets about his father.

They wait quietly after that, and when the bus come Mrs. Brennen leaves and Mary watches it go down the road and turn a corner. When she turns around Deirdre is closing the door behind her.

*~* ~*~ *~*

Castiel and Gabriel, and sometimes the other Brennen children, spend more and more time in the Winchester household. Michael once said ‘she gets headaches’ and left it at that. The others didn’t comment. A few weeks after the beginning of the school year, Mary finds herself trying to seat nine instead of four. John raises an eyebrow, finds a few foldable chairs to place around the table, and puts more chicken on the grill. All of the Brennen children have found themselves here for dinner, and she wasn’t about to send them away when they kept sending anxious looks at the door.

“Are you sure your mother okay with all of you eating here?”

“He left–”

“She won’t mind–”

“We’re not allowed to–”

“Dad hasn’t come home–”

“–really can’t tell you–”

“–angry and then–”

“–not supposed to say–”

“Shh!”

The younger three fall silent immediately, and Michael pulls his finger down from his lips. John and Mary look between the Brennen children who have their heads down. Michael said quietly, “Our mother won’t mind. She gets headaches sometimes and we leave so we won’t bother her.”

John gives the Brennen child a skeptical look, and Mary scans them for bruises. The remainder of dinner is quiet, and Mary asks if they want to spend the night, since it’s so late now. They all agree, and Castiel, Luke, and Michael go to sleep in Dean’s room, while Gabriel and Anna go to Sam’s room. Mary finds pillows, while John gets sleeping bags and blankets. Cas shares Dean’s bed while the twins sleep on the floor. When she goes to tuck in the others, Anna has fallen asleep on top of a pile of blankets, so Mary throws one over her and places a pillow beneath her head. Sam and Gabriel are whispering tiredly, and sharing a pillow. Mrs. Winchester bids them goodnight and means to talk to Mrs. Brennen in the morning.

When the neighbor’s children are surprised she made breakfast, her lips press into a thin line and she keeps flipping pancakes.

*~* ~*~ *~*

“Race you to the woods!”

“You’re on!”

The two five (and a half!) year-old boys ran down the side of the street, laughing as they come to a stop at the edge of the trees. They fall silent as they stare into the quiet woods.

Gabriel leans over to whisper to Sam, “Triple dog dare you to go in there for a whole five minutes. Bring back a pinecone from a tree or something as proof.”

Sam shakes his head and backs away from the tree line, “No way. There could be bears or something. Lions.”

“Lions live in the African grasses not our woods. Besides, if you get attacked just act like a moose, like this,” Gabriel puts his hands on his head, fingers spread to resemble antlers. He puffs out his chest and growls, stomping his feet.

“Mooses don’t growl, I think. Do I have to?”

“It was a triple Sam. Triple. That means no backsides, sorry.”

Sam sighs. Gabriel pats his back and waits in the grass that marks safety. With a gulp, Sam steps pass the first tree and flinches, looking around for anything hungry lurking in the shadows. When he looks back, Gabe waves from a few feet away, sunlight catching his hair and making it look golden. Turning around, Sam tilts his chin up and takes a few steps into the woods, heart pounding faster every time he steps on a twig.

After a few moments he relaxes, and happens upon a small creek. It’s mostly dry, leaves building up on the banks, and a few shallow inches of water determinedly pushing its way downstream. He decides not to cross, after all the banks are steep and if he gets stuck Gabriel couldn’t pull him back up, and snakes. Do bears live in creeks?

He shudders and looks around for a pinecone, wandering along the bank. After stubbing his toe on an emerging root, and nearly walking face-first into a spider web with the creator home, he finds a pine tree. All of the pinecones lying haphazardly on the ground look rotted and dirty. Not worthy of presenting to Gabriel. Sam looks for one, and decides none will do, not for his new best friend.

The lowest branch is level with Sam’s eyes, and the bark is fraying off. He struggles for a moment, pulling himself slowly up onto the branch, and stands carefully. His tattered sneakers slide on the branch, and he looks for the next branch, making his way up slowly. Two thirds of the way up the tree, Sam spots the perfect pinecone for his friend, and looks for a dead branch to knock it off.

Seeing none, he huffs and pouts. He crouches on a branch beside the one with the target. Holding onto the tree with on hand, and shaking the branch with the other, he tries knocking it loose and succeeds in dropping a few of the brown seed bearers, but not the one he wants. Shoulders slumping, he sits thinking. There’s only one other option and he doesn’t like it.

Inching his way away from the trunk, Sam clings to his branch as it dips and sways with his movement. As the branch bends, he gets closer to the pinecone. Letting go with one hand, he grasps for the present. With a tug it comes free, but the movement causes Sam to lose his balance and he flails as he slips from the branch. He yells as pine needles cut his arms and face as he closes his eyes on instinct and reaches blindly for a hold. His chin his a branch and his teeth clack together before his hand catches a branch and his wrist twists as he body keeps falling but he holds on.

Tears well in his eyes, he maneuvers himself back to the trunk and climbs the few feet left to the ground. Sniffing, he sees the pine cone in his uninjured hand, and follows the creek bank back. When he gets close to the edge of the woods he hears Gabriel calling out his name. Sam answers, cradling his wrist which is purple and green and hurts to move.  
Gabriel clambers through the underbrush to him, panic in his eyes. “Sam you’ve been gone longer than– hey are you okay?!”

Sam nods and winces when Gabriel holds his wrist, tears slipping from his eyes as Gabriel inspects the bruising.

“Well the puffy bits are bad, but the bruises go away. Sometimes the bad ones take a while, and they hurt, but they go away. My brothers and Anna and me get them on the bad nights when… he…” Gabriel trails off, eyes wide and shakes his head.

“Forget that, I didn’t say nothing. So you’ll be okie dokie. Let’s go to your mommy,” he says quickly and leads Sam out of the woods.

Sam squints in confusion and pain, but stops Gabriel as they leave the woods. “Here. It’s the perfect pinecone for the perfect friend.”

Gabriel smiles and ducks his head, accepting the pinecone and walking with Sam to his house. When he goes to the Winchester’s house the next day, Mary opens the door and welcomes Gabriel inside, pointedly not commenting on the pinecone attached to a string. Gabriel finds Sam in his room, playing with small plastic army men. He has a red cast on his wrist, but seems fine otherwise.

“Hey Sam-a-roo, is your hand okay?”

Sam turns around in surprise, smiling at his friend and beckoning him over. “Yeah but this thing is itchy. Oh! Here I saved a spot just for you,” Sam declares and hands his friend a black Sharpie.

He holds his cast out and points to a circle in his palm, with “fOr GabRiEL” scrawled beside it with a crooked arrow pointing to the circle. Smiling sheepishly Sam shrugs, “It’s hard to write with my other hand.”

Gabriel puts his name in the circle, laughing when his hand-writing is nearly as sloppy as Sam’s, even with his dominate hand. Remembering what he brought, he tells Sam to close his eyes. Once the Winchester has done so, Gabriel loops the string over Sam’s head, centering the pinecone on his chest.

“Open.”

Sam looks down and sees the pinecone attached to a string, still perfect and woodsy. He inspects it and then hugs Gabriel who flinches away before patting Sam’s back uncertainly.

“It’s a token of bravery. I told you, mooses is brave. You’re like a Thor moose. A Thoose! My superhero!” Gabriel shouts and pokes Sam who pokes him back, forgetting that motion hurts.

“Ouch!”

Gabriel holds Sam’s wrist in concern, then places a kiss over his name, “Mwauh. There! Mom always kisses it better. Did it work?”

Sam nods and they fall silent, staring at each other. Then Sam states, “You’re my hero too. No side-kicks, just us against the bad guys.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel agrees quietly, looking away.

Then the two play with the army men, winning of course. The two get bored and watch Fox and the Hound, agreeing Gabriel is the fox, and Sam is the hound. They both say, “We’ll always be friends forever,” with the movie, and fall asleep tangled together in a blanket. After Gabriel goes home, waving and thanking Mrs. Winchester for dinner, Sam hangs the pinecone on his headboard, and dreams of saving Gabriel and collecting pinecones.

*~* ~*~ *~*

Gabriel doesn’t show up to school next Monday, Castiel won’t say a word to Dean, and when Sam rang the doorbell Luke answered only to tell him not to come over for a while. The golden haired Brennen doesn’t go to school Tuesday, or Wednesday, at which point Miss Jess tells Sam to wait while the other kids leave for recess.

“Hey Sam, I noticed Gabriel hasn’t been here this week. Is he sick?”

Sam smiles, he likes Miss Jess she’s nice, but then frowns in confusion. “I wented to his house but his older brother said to not come over. I don’t know where he is. If I find him I’ll tell you, promise.”

Miss Jess nods, “Promise,” and the two link pinkies. After Sam leaves she taps her fingers on the desk, wondering why no one has called the school with some explanation as to why her student has been missing.

The class seems quieter without the dynamic duo laughing and talking, and Sam slowly stops making effort to interact with the other children without his friend. When Friday ends and there’s still no news, she offers to walk Sam home, which isn’t all that strange it’s a tiny town and everyone knows everyone. With the exception of the Brennens.  
Sam agrees enthusiastically, and some of the kids who live on his street crowd around Miss Jess as they head home. Mr. and Mrs. Winchester are surprised to see their son’s teacher at the door, but let her in without a word.

“Is he in trouble?” John asks and gives Sam a look, he shakes his head at his father.

“Oh, not at all. I was just wondering what you know about the Brennens?”

Mary says quickly, “Why?”

Taken aback slightly, Miss Jess answers, “Well Gabriel hasn’t been at school all week, and the school hasn’t received word as to why, and I knew he was close to Sam and I… I suppose I was just hoping you knew something.”

John glances between Dean and Sam, “Go upstairs, okay boys?”

“But dad I wanna to know what happened to Gabriel!” Sam protests.

“You will. Now go, no buts.”

After Dean leads Sam upstairs, John and Mary take Miss Jess to the kitchen and they all sit around the kitchen table.

“Have you ever noticed strange bruises or marks on Gabriel?” Mary asks and Jess nods.

“Sometimes, but he never seemed bothered by it. I was suspicious when he ‘ran into a door’ three times in a row. Do you think…” she trails off.

John clears his throat and says softly, “All I know is sometimes those kids come over here in a panic, in need of dinner, or with injuries, and every goddamned time they back each other up and act like nothing is going on. And their mother never leaves the house anymore. Pardon my language,” he adds after he sees Mary’s startled expression.

“The only reason I know Mrs. Brennen is because I saw her once in the grocery store and introduced myself. She seemed like a timid frail thing, I didn’t talk about Gabriel long because she seemed uncomfortable. They never come to parent-teacher nights,” Jess adds.

The three look between each other solemnly, all thinking the same thing, but knowing if the kids kept denying and they had no solid proof, they couldn’t do a thing.

*~* ~*~ *~*

John and the group of guys he goes fishing with on Sunday afternoons and to the bar on Friday’s were there as usual. It was one of Lawrence’s few bars, small, worn, and not the nicest of place but the beer was cheap and the booth in the back was big enough for the eight of them.

One Friday, as John’s friend Pete was dealing out a new hand, a familiar voice makes itself heard. They turn to see Mr. Brennen swearing loudly and struggling to stand, empty bottle in hand. The bar tender tries to help him, but the drunken man shakes him off and stumbles into another person. Affronted, and yelling loudly, Egon throws a punch at the man he’d bumped into. Though he misses, the guys friends step in, and as John watches it takes three men to break it up and drag Mr. Brennen out of the bar.  
When he turns back, one of his friends says, “Hey John, isn’t that your neighbor? The people who moved here about two years back?”

Nodding grimly, John replies, “Yeah. I worry about his wife and kids. Mary and I do our best to keep an eye out, but he knows how to cover his tracks I guess. Poor Deirdre hardly leaves the house, Mary’s tried inviting her over.”

The table falls silent at his comment, somber faces turned toward the door Egon disappeared through.

“Let us know if we can do anything,” Pete offers, and John’s friends nod.

Reaching for his cards, John says, “Will do.”

They keep playing, and John loses because he kept looking at the door and regretting that he didn’t take Egon home and make sure Deirdre and the children would be okay.

*~* ~*~ *~*

A few weeks passed, John and Mary keeping a closer eye on the Brennens, but the house stood silent and deceiving. The children would come into their house at random; Mary would walk past with the laundry and see Anna and Luke watching TV from the couch, or Michael asking if he may have a snack. Sam and Gabriel grew closer, the cast came off, and Dean was able to get the shy Castiel to talk animatedly.

She got used to the copious amount of kids in her house, having a few more faces to clean crumbs off of or remind to wash their hands and pick up toys. So when the extra kids suddenly stop walking in after school and she finds herself buying just a bit too much at the grocery store for extra mouths that aren’t there to eat it, Mary pauses on the driveway with bags of food in her arms and sighs at the Brennen’s house. Shaking her head slightly and pinching her lips into a thin line, she goes inside and wrings her hands.  
The next Saturday, she takes Dean to baseball practice and looks around in confusion when Castiel isn’t there. He’s usually the first person to be dropped off, and she was running late.

“Dean, was Castiel sick this week?”

Her son looks up, scratching his freckled cheek and shakes his head. “No. He was in class yesterday. Miss Charlie had to tell us to stop talking again.”

Mary sighs silently, and Dean scampers off to join his teammates. She sits through the practice yet Deirdre never shows up to drop off Cas with an apology and explanation for being late. Dean rambles as Mary distractedly helps him into the car, ignoring his protest about being a ‘big boy’ when she buckles his seatbelt. As she drives home, passing the Brennen’s house, she sees nothing that looks strange, wondering how different it is inside the walls.

When Gabriel comes over the next day, he’s got a cut on his cheek that he says he got climbing a tree. When asked about his brother, he falls quiet and shrugs. Anna joins them later, and doesn’t say a word the entire time she stays. They leave before dinner, Gabriel’s face scrunching up when Sam hugs him, but he says nothing. John watches them walk home, frowning when he sees the older child poke his head in the door before waving his sister in.

*~* ~*~ *~*

“C’mon Gabe don’t be a baby. Let’s go,” Sam says from a few steps into the woods.

Gabriel, safe on the edge of the tree line, shakes his head. “No I’m not going. You hurted your hand last time and your momma said not to go back.”

“Baby Gabey. Ba-”

Gabriel cuts Sam off mid taunt, “Fine, but if one of us gets hurt it’s your fault.”

Sam nods and the two walk further into the woods, following the creek bed. At one point, the water thins out enough for the two to hop across rocks and crawl up the other side. Sam giggles when Gabriel slips and gets mud on his face, poking his friend in the cheek.

“Hey!”

Gabriel grabs some mud and wipes it on Sam’s arm, and the two cover each other in mud. Laughing still, Gabriel attempts to wipe the drying dirt off of his face. Sam pushes his hand away and removes the smudge, grinning at his friend before the two notice the mess they made.

“Oops,” Gabriel gestures to their brown clothes.

Sam shrugs and grabs Gabriel by the hand, pulling him along into the woods. Walking a little further, they come across a small clearing with a gentle decline, pine trees and birch trees strewn across the hill. A cardinal chirps and flies past as Sam and Gabe admire the scene.

Spotting a stand of closely clustered trees, Sam runs over and begins to climb.

“You knucklehead! You brokeded your hand last time doing that! Sam your mom said not to climb anymore of them trees,” Gabriel says from the ground, peering up at Sam who keeps climbing.

“Gabe come look! It’s so cool up here,” Sam says, barely visible through the branches and leaves.

Gabriel frowns, looking between Sam and the way they came from before grabbing a branch and hauling himself up. Shaking, he made his way up through the stand of trees, trunks so close the branches mingled together. Upon reaching Sam, Gabriel clings to a trunk with shaking arms as Sam pushes aside a leafy branch. The two gape at the landscape. The hill continues to slope downward, and they can pick out the creek as it shines in the October sun. Patches of farmland extend from the other end of the tree line, making the land seem like a bunch of mismatched puzzle pieces were put together.

“It’s like the woods are a little kingdom,” Gabriel says excitedly.

“We should name it.”

“How about Laetitiae Excelsa?”

“What does that mean?”

“I just think it sounds cool,” Gabriel shrugs as Sam considers it.

“Laetitiae Excelsa. Excelsa for short,” Sam nods and the two smile as they look out at their kingdom. The wind blows, and the two shiver as the sun starts to sink. Crawling back down, the boys crunch on leaves that fell early as they make their way out of the woods and away from their new hiding place in the woods.

*~* ~*~ *~*

When Michael helps Luke through the back door, John notices right away something isn’t right. Luke’s arm is slung around the back of Michael’s neck who is trying to hold his twin up. As John’s about to ask if everything’s okay, they shift and John can see blood staining a large portion of Luke’s other arm.

“What happened?”

Michael doesn’t say a word, eyes wide as he lets John pick up his brother and set him on the kitchen table. John calls for Mary who sees the blood and hurries to get a first aid kit as John carefully removes the boy’s shirt. Upon seeing the wound, John freezes and looks at Luke with shock and empathy. Luke stares blankly at him and his head lulls to the side a bit. Mary comes back and the two clean the blood from the long cut on Luke’s arm.

“John, I think he’s lost a lot of blood. We should take him to the hospital.”

At this Luke livens up enough to shake his head and say no, as Michael please with them not to do so. At both of the twin’s protests, John picks up Luke and carries him to the car while Mary tries to find out what happened from Luke. Sam and Dean enter the room, and the four of them join John on the ride to the hospital.

Michael says nothing, stops responding to anything they say or ask, while Luke’s eyes droop and he slumps into Mary’s side. At the hospital he is whisked away, and John and Mary have to answer as many questions as they can. A secretary contacts Mrs. Brennen, who shows up with a pale face and Gabriel, Castiel, and Anna in tow. She speaks quietly with the receptionist who gives her a skeptical look before telling her to wait with the Winchesters.

Deirdre is also as silent as Michael, and neither John nor Mary try prodding for answers. Anna falls asleep in her lap, but Deirdre doesn’t seem to notice. Sam, Gabe, Cas, and Dean try cheering Michael up, but eventual give up and sit in the uncomfortable waiting chairs.

Nearly two hours later, a nurse appears with Luke holding her hand. She explains to Mrs. Brennen that he needed a lot of stitches that will have strict rules about being kept clean, handed her a list about them, and told her to make Luke drink a lot of water for his blood loss. Nodding, Deirdre took the paper, barely nodded at the Winchesters, before hurrying her children out the door. John and Mary stared after her, at a loss of how to help.

*~* ~*~ *~*

Next week Luke and Anna stumble through the door, startling the Winchesters who were sitting around a board game. The two freeze upon seeing the attention direction to them, then Luke ushers his sister further inside and closes the door behind him. The stitches in his arm form a cruel black pattern up his arm.

“Sorry. I should have knocked,” he mumbles breathlessly, nervously looking between the door and the four pairs of eyes looking at him.

John shakes his head, “No it’s alright son. You and your siblings are always welcome. Is everything alright?”

Anna’s blue eyes widen, and she sticks her thumb in her mouth as Luke tries to answer before he decides to nod speechless. Taking Anna by the hand, he leads her to the family room away from the gawking Winchesters.

“Sam, Dean, why don’t you go keep your friends company? We can finish this game later,” Mary whispers to her sons who nod seriously and walk off. John and Mary whisper for a few minutes before heading to the den where all the kids have cuddled together on the couch. As they lean in the doorway they catch a part of the conversation.  
“When da’s not home I wish he, that he wouldn’t come back,” Anna says, head bowed and sniffing.

The three boys envelop her in a hug and say,

“We’ll protect you Anna Banana.”

“Maybe we can wish on a star.”

“It’s okay Anna.”

Mr. and Mrs. Winchester don’t have the heart to break the moment, smiling at their kids and the two that have become family. Eventually the four fall asleep, and they carry them upstairs and place them in Dean’s room. When they go back down the stairs, they glance out the window towards the Brennen house and exchange sad smiles, doing what they can without knowing their suspicions are true.

*~* ~*~ *~*

Gabriel shows up on the porch, smiling around a lollipop. “Come on Sammmmmm! Hurry up.”

Rushing to put his sneakers on, Sam hops out the door on one foot, smiling at his friend. The two grasp hands and run down the sidewalk together, stopping to say hello to the elderly woman on her porch. They enter the woods, weaving through trees and crossing the stream, and run until they find the little clearing. From there they go and sit under the climbing trees, catching their breath. They talk for hours, picking at the grass and pointing out squirrels and birds.

“Hey, Gabe?”

“Yeah Sam,” Gabriel answers, eyes closed and head in his friends lap.

“If this is a kingdom, are we kings?”

Eyes snapping open, Gabriel sits up and moves to face Sam. Pouting in confusing he says, “Don’ts there got to be a queen though? Neither of us is girls,” he giggles.

Sam hums in thought then slowly says, “No, I don’t think there’s a rule. You can be a king and I can be a king. And we can both rule together.”

Lips pursing, Gabriel relents and smiles. “Then we need crowns.”

They stand and walk around, collecting things from the ground until their hands are full. Sitting in the middle of the tiny clearing, they weave together twigs and late dandelions. Gabriel managed to stick a pinecone on his, though it tilts crookedly. Sam helps him put his crown on, and Gabriel ties more of the little yellow weeds into Sam’s. Once the small coronation is complete, they lay back in the grass and stare into the blue of the sky.

At one point, Gabriel slides closer to Sam and uses his chest as a pillow as they doze under the sun. Eventually they get up and climb their trees, collecting pinecones and writing their names with them at the base of the tree stand. Once they’re satisfied with their work, Sam and Gabe carefully place their crowns beside each other on the roots of the biggest tree.

“To the creatures of Laetitiae Excelsa, your kings leave you in charge of our crowns. Do not miss us, for we will be back soon,” Gabriel shouts to the trees, disrupting a few birds that fly away. Tagging Sam, he races in the direction of home. Sam catches him easily, and their laughter sings through the trees as they leave.

*~* ~*~ *~*

Late that night, or early that morning, Sam can’t place which, he wakes up to sirens passing his house. Rubbing his eyes, he crawls out of bed and looks out the window, seeing police and an ambulance at the Brennen’s house. Wide awake, he runs from his room and smacks into Dean in the hall.

“Ouch, careful Sammy. Did you see all the cars at Cas’?”

Sam doesn’t get to answer because Mary and John walk up to them in the hall. Mary takes Dean by the hand and John picks up Sam. They make their way outside and see Deirdre crying and clutching Anna. Michael and Luke stand solemnly at her side, but Castiel runs over and attacks Dean in a hug. His sobs shake Dean’s whole body, and John looks for an officer.

“What happened?”

The man, a familiar face, shakes his head sadly. “He was a violent drunk, and a wanted man. They’ve been trying to catch him ever since he beat his son Alfie to death. We may have come too late.”

Mary and John scan the Brennen children they can see, then tears fall down Mary’ face as she tries to comfort Dean and Castiel. Just then, paramedics walk out of the house carrying a stretcher with a small body on top. Mrs. Brennen breaks down and the Winchesters can now see the fresh marks on her face.

“She tried to protect him,” the policeman says before being called over by another officer.

They see several policemen struggle to get Mr. Brennen into a squad car and drive off. John sets Sam down, and goes to help Deirdre into the ambulance.

“Mom, where is Gabriel,” Sam says quietly, staring at the stretcher.

Mary can’t answer, and Sam repeats the question when Michael and Luke guide Anna over. They say nothing, silent tears falling from their eyes as they stare at the ground. Sam runs to the ambulance, climbing in while the paramedics focus their attention on the boy on the stretcher and Deirdre stares brokenly at her hands. John tries to pull Sam back, but it’s too late.

It’s too late.

“NO!” Sam screams, bursting into tears and fighting his father as he tries to get to his friend. John pulls Sam away and the ambulance speeds off, but Sam has seen. Gabriel was lying there, motionless and with cuts and purple and black bruises across his arms and chest. A gash across his forehead lead into his hair, blood darkening the golden strands.

“Let me go! Let me go his my friend! Gabriel, Gabriel no!” Sam wrenches away from his father and runs after the fading lights of the emergency vehicle. He doesn’t go far, collapsing on a sob, unable to get air into his lungs.

Mary and John collect all of the children and drive to the hospital, everyone crying and holding onto each other. When two nurse appear helping Deirdre walk to the waiting room, the look on her face tells Mary and John everything. She slumps emptily on one of the chairs, eyes dead as she forgets how to hold herself together.

A forlorn doctor enters the room, and gently says, “There was nothing we could do.”

*~* ~*~ *~*

Two days later, the Winchesters, Deirdre and her children, Miss Jess, Miss Charlie, and many other people who had been charmed by Brennen children were dressed in black. The preacher, crying because Gabriel had enjoyed listening to him on Sundays, said a eulogy as everyone stared blankly at the casket. Soft sniffs or poorly stifled sobs were heard periodically.

Mary and John knew the Brennens probably wouldn’t stay, couldn’t live in that house anymore. They didn’t know how to tell Dean that Castiel would be moving away, didn’t know how to deal with it themselves. All of the Brennen children had become family, and they felt the paternal loss just as much as Deirdre.

Everyone had a change to say their goodbyes when the pastor was done, whispering broken sentences of grief to the flowers on top of the closed coffin. People huddled in groups, leaning on each other and handing out tissues all fell into a quiet more silent than that of loss. Everyone in town who had seen Sam and Gabriel knew they had the kind of bond that is rare in this broken world. They all stared as Sam walked up to sleek black wood, lip quivering as tears fled from his eyes.

None of them understood why he placed a pinecone on a string onto the bouquet of flowers. All of them could feel the pain rolling off the boy as he wailed and collapsed on the ground as the coffin was lowered into the earth. None of them would forget it, and years later when they saw Sam they would remember his grief so raw that the wound touched everyone. None of them knew he never returned to the kingdom because it would be breaking Gabriel’s promise of going back soon. Only Sam knew that their crowns would fall apart or be blown away, that the pinecones would break down and become part of the dirt just as his best friend had. Only Sam knew a king had died, and he didn’t want to rule alone.

**Author's Note:**

> ~*~*~*~*~*~*~
> 
> Note: Laetitiae Excelsa means citadel of joy in Latin regardless of what google translate says
> 
> I did not mean for it to be sad. I really didn't. But this happened
> 
>  
> 
> ~Ashley


End file.
